France will follow Britain and send longer-range missile to Ukraine

French President Emmanual Macron has promised to send more military aid to Ukraine after a recent state visit from Volodymyr Zelensky, and he hinted that the new package could include long-range missiles.

“It’s important to note that we’re not at war with Russia. We are assisting Ukraine in resisting Russian aggression. This means that we do not deliver weapons that could be used to reach Russian soil or attack Russia directly,” Macron said while speaking on TF1 according to a Euromaidan Press translation.

Macron said France would be sending Ukraine more equipment like their Caesar howitzers and more light tanks. But he also added that the Ukrainians would be getting more advanced missiles to help them push the Russians back.

“In addition to that, we will deliver other equipment, ammunition, and missiles with a range that allows Ukraine to resist and carry out the counter-offensive,” the French President added.

Macron's comments come just days after UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace confirmed that the British government had supplied Ukraine with its long-range Shadow Storm missiles after previously inviting arms manufacturers in February to show their interest in supplying long-range weapons on behalf of the International Fund for Ukraine.

"The donation of these weapons systems gives Ukraine the best chance to defend themselves against Russia's continued brutality, especially the deliberate targeting of Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, which is against international law," Wallace said in the House of Commons according to Sky News.

In February, Britain and a group of European nations under the International Fund for Ukraine invited arms companies to bid on supplying weapons that had long-range strike capabilities. 

The British Ministry of Defence was looking specifically for missiles or rockets with a range of 62 to 186 miles that could also carry large payloads of between 44 and 1078 pounds.

The weapons could be launched by air, land, or sea and needed to have a low probability of interception as well as assured navigation and air defense penetration capabilities. 

Suppliers that showed interest in providing the long-range missiles or rockets required will be contacted on June 5th, which meant we could have these weapons in Ukraine much later if the UK hadn't secretly provided Ukraine with its Storm Shadow missile. 

When British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly was asked about his country’s policy on sending long-range missiles to Ukraine during a May 9th interview by the Atlantic Council while in Washington, he didn’t give any details about having already sent those weapons to Ukraine. 

“My answer is that, you know, if we’re saving stuff up for a rainy day, this is the rainy day,” Cleverly explained while being interviewed at an event for the Atlantic Council. 

“What we need to do is we need to bring this conflict to a conclusion, and we need to bring it to a conclusion quickly,” Cleverly added before explaining how things will end. 

According to Cleverly, the war could only end once Ukraine has been given the tools they need to succeed in its fight against Russia, which is why the country had been so vocal in pushing its allies to get their support to Ukraine as quickly as possible. 

The Guardian's Dan Sabbagh reported that the criteria outlined in the British Defence Ministry’s call for long-range weapons fit perfectly with Britain's Storm Shadow missile.

Ukraine has been looking to arm itself with weapons that have long-range strike abilities since the war began, and talks to provide them began in January but later fell through.

"Ukraine needs long-range missiles ... to deprive the occupier of the opportunity to place its missile launchers somewhere far from the front line and destroy Ukrainian cities," President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video update at the time according to Reuters.

Reuters added that Zelensky was specifically asking the United States to send its MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) to help aid Ukraine in its struggle. 

The United States has been Ukraine's most prominent backer throughout the war but has been reluctant to send the country missiles that could be used on Russian territory. 

“We think the Ukrainians can change the dynamic on the battlefield and achieve the type of effects they want to push the Russians back without ATACMs,” Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl said after the U.S. decided against sending the weapons in January 

“Our judgment to date has been that the juice isn’t really worth the squeeze on the ATACM,” Kahl continued, adding that that could change but that “we’re not there yet.”

The International Fund for Ukraine includes Britain, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands and was set up to facilitate the supply of arms to Kyiv according to Reuters. The move to possibly supply Ukraine with long-range missiles is a significant escalation in  current British policy towards the war.